Yacon - the earth apple
Harvesting yacon - the earth apple - from my garden. Yacon is what is known as a resistant starch, which means it survives the acidity and digestive enzymes of the stomach and ilium/duodenum, making it to the colon, where it is food for our probiotic allies. Yacon regulates blood glucose and normalises insulin production, and it is a potent prebiotic due to the high inulin content. Grate into salads, add to stir fry, roast, dehydrate, add to mash, or just eat like an apple.
My wife is on a strict diet because we are reversing (successfully) her primary progressive multiple sclerosis, and she used some of the yacon today as the sweetness in some brownies. They were really very, very good.
Restrictive diets don't mean we have give up comfort foods - we just have to be a little more inventive.
www.celestialroots.com
I hadnt heard of these! Its so amazing what foods/plants can do for our health!
Ar3e these tropical crop or can they be also grown in the North. I live near the 43rd parallel in Zone 5 in Michigan and am always trying new crops.
Hi Stephen, yacon's ideal range of temperature is 15 - 20 deg C, so won't grow unfortunately in Michigan unless in a greenhouse. It would want to be a tall one, they grow to over 6 foot when mature.
A similar crop you could grow though is Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus, or sunchoke). The taste is different, more nutty, less sweet and apple like than yacon, but it has all the functional food qualities of yacon, and like yacon, grows tall and isn't too hard to grow. Tall above ground stems are good ways to keep the organic matter cycling in your garden - lots for the compost or worm farm there. You would want to plant end of March to beginning of May. I'm in Australia though, so your planting times may be a little different than ours - I planted the tubers at the end of winter for a late winter harvest.
Love your concise informative posts. Yay for reversing MS naturally!
Thank you. Yes, yay! After my wife's last MRI showed no new demyelination , and all old lessions well on the way to healing, the neurologist was astounded. PP MS just doesn't work like that. He said 'if you had taken the drugs I'd be surprised because they don't work like that. But now, I just don't know what to say'. I replied 'well, you might like to ask what we DID do?' Unfortunately, no - he couldn't have been less interested.
Its so sad that medical professionals could care less when people heal their bodies naturally.... Of course, they loose money if you do.. So i guess it makes sense. But its still sad!
Yes, My Wife's Nuerologist is beginning to get interested. Based on Commission E studies out of Germany, I started treating her with stinging nettle, and her MS is showing reversal on the MRIs. I will look at these roots too, maybe I can find them somewhere here in Oklahoma. GOD Bless you and your wife, and bring her to a full recovery!